Franklin Town, MA 02081 Frost Dates
02081, near Franklin Town, MA: the frost window
Around 04/27 is the usual last spring frost, about 242 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/14, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Franklin Town in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Franklin Town's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/27 isn't a guarantee
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Franklin Town against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 169 frost-free days, Franklin Town places 29,332 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MA, it ranks 356 of 712.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 02081: the frost range, on how to read the range around Franklin Town's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Franklin Town can differ from the 02081 normal.